Prescription drug use rising, heroin remains problem in Indian Valley

Editor’s Note: This is the second of three articles looking at the issue of drugs in the Indian Valley area from Montgomery Publishing, sister publishing company of the Daily Local News.

Four years ago, the football star from the Souderton Area High School Class of 2007, who went to Tennessee State University on a full scholarship, overdosed on prescription pills and died. At least two other Souderton students also died from overdosing on painkillers in the past three or four years.

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This past June, a 23-year-old Telford man and his girlfriend attempted to rob an 87-year-old Franconia resident. According to the affidavit, the girlfriend said she resorted to crime because of her addiction to heroin.

Last month, Matthew Cassel, a Souderton Area High School 2008 graduate, overdosed on heroin and died at his house in Telford. He was 22.

Are these cases of hard drug abuse in the area unique? Justina McIntyre doesn’t think so.

“It’s a big problem,” she said. “And it’s a problem because people don’t want to admit it.”

McIntyre is the mother of Ronnie Powell III, the 19-year-old Souderton football star whom his mother described as funny, outgoing, friendly and “always for the underdog.”

“I miss my son very much,” McIntyre said. “I still cry every day.”

McIntyre, who lives in Harleysville, started the organization One Life One Chance with a group of parents who wanted a support group to talk about children who have struggled with or currently struggle with drug addiction.

“It’s a place to go and not be judged,” she said.

One Life One Chance organizes awareness walks and works with schools and other coalitions. The group runs “mock bedroom scenarios” for parents to learn what to do when they see red flags in their children’s bedrooms.

McIntyre saw some red flags in her own son. She received calls from the school nurse at Souderton frequently because Powell told the nurse he was experiencing nausea, back pain and all sorts of ailments. At home, Powell complained of blurred vision and headaches. His skin broke out. He had trouble sleeping. He started irrationally fighting with his coaches, too, which was abnormal for him.

She didn’t know her son was taking prescription drugs until six months before his death. She has since found out that Powell began using when he was 15, when an older co-worker at a nursing home gave him six Vicodin to try.

Powell also used marijuana, ecstasy, OxyContin, steriods and cocaine, but to McIntyre’s knowledge, he never used heroin.

When prescription pills become too expensive, users sometimes resort to heroin, she said.

The cost of pills varies, but often one milligram costs $1, so a 30 milligram pill is $30.

Heroin, on the other hand, is cheap. John Cassel, the father of Matt Cassel, said a bag of heroin the size of your thumb goes for $10.

Lower Salford police Cpl. Cory Moyer confirmed this price. He said heroin is not usually manufactured in this area; drug deals often happen in Philadelphia, where John Cassel said his son often went. According to Moyer, dealers sell heroin in bundles. Each bundle is 13 bags, which may sell for $100. Then, the bags are sold for $10 each to make a profit.

Heroin tolerance is like alcohol tolerance. One bag of heroin can have a huge effect on a person who has never taken heroin before, but a regular user can use up to 20 to 30 bags a day, according to Moyer.

Moyer said hard drugs are often mixed with another substance.

Heroin, for example, is sometimes mixed with benzodiazepines, or “benzos.” According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, these drugs are used as a sedative to relieve anxiety. When benzos and heroin are mixed, however, the result is more dangerous because the rush is much quicker, according to a drug and alcohol expert at the Penn Foundation.

Moyer said cocaine is often adulterated as well, sometimes with baking powder or baking soda. In that case, however, the additives reduce the purity, which dilutes the effect.

Lower Salford Chief of Police Tom Medwid said heroin has not been as much of a problem in the area as OxyContin. They haven’t seen a spike in drug- or alcohol-related deaths recently, according to Medwid.

Souderton police Chief James Leary said prescription pill abuse is greater than it was back in 2008, and alcohol abuse is greater, too. Some of the hard drug use, however, has diminished, he said.

“Heroin is a problem,” Leary said, though. “It’s always been a problem.”

Prescription pill use, however, is growing, he said. Leary said those who are using pills are often well-educated kids from good families who have a disposable income and resources at home.

OxyContin is an often abused drug, but when there isn’t access to it, users have to turn somewhere else.

“When the Oxy supply dries up, they go to heroin because it’s a very similar high,” Leary said.

The Souderton police force has also seen at least one case of bath salts in the general area, but not in the Souderton area. Bath salts are a drug having nothing to do with bathing that is ingested, inhaled or injected, according to the CDC. Its symptoms include agitation, tachycardia and delusions or hallucinations.

Leary points to three problem areas: experimentation, recreation and abuse.

“Prevention starts in the home,” Leary said. “It starts with parents having the courage to confront their kids when they start to act out.”

McIntyre said she thinks the area’s drug problem now is the same or worse than it was in 2008.

“Our community needs to realize that this is our problem,” she said. “It’s not just one section — it’s not just the police department or the schools or the churches — it’s our problem, and we need to work together to fix it or help minimize it. Otherwise we’re going to lose our children and our community.”

McIntyre said the hardest thing for her is when people won’t talk to her about her son because they don’t want to upset her. She does not want her son and his story to be forgotten.

“I truly believe — just like with Matt — that kids don’t understand what can happen to them,” McIntyre said. “Kids live in the moment. They think nothing’s going to happen to them. These aren’t bad kids. They just make bad choices.”